Lausanne, Switzerland, April 2, 2017 – Liechtenstein’s Manuel Gahr and Maximilian von Deichmann gave the Malbun crowd plenty to cheer when they won the latest stop on the CEV Snow Volleyball Tour.

It was the first time that a Liechtenstein team have won a snow volleyball medal and there was also a first snow volleyball medal for a Latvian team after Marta Ozolina and Jekaterina Stepanova finished atop the women’s podium.

The local favourites were up against Germany’s Jens Ellmrich and Maik Winkler in the men’s final and triumphed with a 3-2 (11-6, 24-22, 6-11, 9-11, 11-3) victory.

“It is an awesome feeling,” Gahr said. “Perfect weekend, perfect weather, despite the forecast. So many people came and cheered for us. It was really good.

“This was the first time I played on snow. The first two matches were horrible – it did not feel right. With each game we got better and when we increased our level was really cool.”

Top seeds Michal Matyja and Piotr Janiak from Poland won bronze after they defeated Switzerland’s Raphael Zurgilgen and Christian Busin 2-0 (11-8, 11-1).

Ozolina and Stepanova faced pre-tournament-favourites Anna Dostalova and Michaela Knoblochova from the Czech Republic in the final and after taking time to find their rhythm finished with a 3-1 (7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6) victory.

“For us it was hard, because we did not play semi-finals and did not really get to warm up for the final, so we had to really come in strong,” Stepanova said. “We lost the first set, but in the end we won and that is what is important.”